Restaurants are hard. We’re here to help make it easier for you to do all the things you love and have time and energy to do the parts of the job that you don’t love.  As many restaurant owners/managers know all too well, there are so many moving parts and things to juggle when running a restaurant.  Here are some tricks, treats and tips for your restaurant.

Rethink your online ordering options

Restaurants’ profit margins are already thin enough without having to shell out another chunk to one of the many online ordering companies. Don’t get us wrong, online ordering has been such a great lifeline for the restaurant industry during the pandemic but enough is enough. We get it, if you have no other choice, it’s totally understandable to keep working with your favourite online ordering company, after all, online orders are better than no orders. But if you can afford to develop your own online ordering service, then by all means develop away. Use the online ordering companies to acquire customers and then transition them into your own ecosystem. There are many ways to do this and we suggest researching how to build your own service so that you no longer have to share profits with anyone but yourself and your staff.

Source local food

Sourcing local food isn’t a new idea, in fact, it’s been around for as long as restaurants have. Nowadays, local is everything. Working with local food companies does so much for your community and also gives your restaurant extra local credit when your customers realize you’re helping other local companies too. The more items you have on your menu that come from somewhere relatively close to you, the better. You can not only capitalize on the local trend but also get great local word of mouth from other companies whose products you’re using. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.

Dive into tech

Always keep learning, that’s something any successful professional in any industry will tell you. The restaurant industry is no different.  Whether it’s using new social media platforms, paying for analytics and metrics to understand your place in the market, driving users to restaurants with advertising, or using QR codes instead of menus. There are so many ways to make your restaurant better using tech. For instance, Sirved offers many tech-savvy online solutions that you could benefit from. We offer free QR code generation and PDF printouts that can be used on your tables, we also offer free advertising solutions that will get your restaurant seen by more people daily. We also offer a free website builder that can help you create a great website that you can be proud of (not just another Facebook page). We know tech can be scary to restauranteurs whose main focus is on making great food, but there’s a lot of great options out there worth researching if you can find the time.  Claim your restaurant here with Sirved today to get access to our 100% free restaurant toolkit.

Start a loyalty program

Everybody loves to feel special and restaurant patrons are no different. Offering a loyalty program like gift cards helps to create a well-rounded experience for your guests. Not only will this help you to be more engaged with your customers but it will give you more avenues to connect with them. If you have any sort of free birthday meal or a free sandwich after 10 purchases, then you have your customers always wanting to come back for more. You’ll also have their email address and contact info to be able to send them promotional emails and text messages without having to worry about them being too spammy. Engage with your customers, listen to them, give them what they want, and they will give you what you want, which is happy clientele that keeps coming back for more.